HONG KONG : Dealmaking in Southeast Asia and private equity transactions should help lift Asian mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity in the second half of the year, bankers said, after deals volume in the first half slumped to the lowest in a decade. Total Asia M&A value for January through June dropped 41 per cent year on year to reach $362 billion, the lowest since 2013, preliminary data from Refinitiv showed.